The Non-Sustainability of Inequality
Thursday, 15. October 2015 | 16:15 Uhr
Speaker
Organisation
The Non-Sustainability of Inequality
Massive inequality in income, wealth or access to resources is unsustainable since it breeds resentment, leads to irrational use of resources, enhances environmental degradation and can generate conflict.
The world’s fixation on economic growth is of late being replaced by a yearning for healthier, more sustainable lifestyles, with factors like global environmental concerns, progressive development of human rights, and recent international financial crises compelling a change in approach. The need for greater equity has emerged as one of the central outcomes of international discussions regarding the post-2015 development agenda.
The recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals correctly assign primacy to eradicating extreme poverty. They also focus «inter alia» on reducing inequality within and amongst countries. While not legally binding, their adoption marks a defining moment in the international discourse on addressing critical economic, environmental and social challenges.
A new global consciousness encompassing a right to sustainable development is also crystallizing. While its overriding priority is the elimination of extreme poverty, sustainable development must address both inter-generational and intra-generational equity concerns. Moreover, alongside reducing inequality in income and wealth, it must secure more equitable access for all to resources that cater to basic needs.
If our world is to be one caring family, each member must have the opportunity to live a life of dignity in a clean, safe and healthy environment. This requires that everyone have a minimum level of access to health, education, housing and livelihood, besides to food, water, sanitation, and affordable energy. There is also need for a healthier global partnership, enabling the developing world to more effectively secure sorely needed finance and environmentally sound technologies, as well as promote capacity building.
Ajai Malhotra
Ambassador Ajai Malhotra has an M.A. in Economics from The Delhi School of Economics. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1977 and, besides assignments at Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, served at Indian diplomatic missions in Bucharest, Geneva, Kuwait, Moscow, Nairobi, New York and Washington DC.
He was Ambassador of India to Romania, Albania and Moldova (2003-2005), Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the UN in New York (2005-2009), Ambassador of India to Kuwait (2009-2011), and Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation (2011-2013), before retiring from the Government of India on November 30, 2013.
He has been on the Indian team negotiating issues such as biological diversity, climate change, desertification, education, energy, forestry, health, human rights, human settlements, intellectual property rights, international labour rights, international law, international trade, ozone depletion, sustainable development, etc. He participated in the 1st UN Conference on New and Renewable Sources of Energy; UNEP Session of a Special Character: Ten Years after Stockholm; meetings relating to the London Amendments to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Agenda 21, the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, besides several UNGA, ECOSOC and UNEP sessions, and NAM, G77 and Commonwealth Summits.
He is currently a Distinguished Fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi, as well as Chairman of CHIKITSA Trust, SHIKSHA Trust, and the Nehru Trust for the Indian Collections at the Victoria & Albert Museum.
